HiGH
High is built on the crooked backbone of Craig Oubre and Isidore Grisoli’s decades of friendship. A friendship forged through bike rides across Louisiana’s cancer alley, breathing in dust and carcinogens spilling from the refineries on New Orleans’ outer crust for band practice. A fifteen-year-old Grisoli joined 13-year-old Craig’s garage-homed punk band, The Pinheads, and they’ve melded together ever since — enhanced with the addition of drummer Joshua White.
While the boom of the early ‘90s punk movement will always be their root — a more diverse palette has been blooming on their buds. High will give you moments of ‘90s nostalgia; however, a wider scope has honed a sound that is poppy, biting, layered and crunchy. High brings technicality, fuzzy riffs, dripping solos, energetic bursts of drumming, and cul-de-sac gang vocals delivering dulcet harmonies, providing texture to the non-embarrassing nostalgic punk pop buried inside.
Lyrically, High deals in themes of social anxiety, love, loss, the universe, trying to be better, rock ‘n roll memorabilia, chain smoking, and a whole lot of introspection. On their split 10” EP with Orlando, Florida’s Curtains, High puts god on trial, much like The Dillinger Four before them:“If there’s a god, I would be wrong. So would he. I’m alone on a rolling stone.” High often explores honesty with oneself. On the forthcoming 7” single, “Judgement Night,” they propose that who we are in our daily lives may be the facade, while tapping into their primal man. This is a theme carried forward from their 2nd full-length album, Evil Gene which was released on Wiretap Records. High trades in being pretty around the edges for force-feeding you hard truths about yourself, with sing-along hooks that are a saturated and sticky ode to their inner scumbaggery, the true original sin—the selfish gene, survival of the slickest. That’s not to say they don’t have a softer side. On their soon to be released 3rd LP, High delves into sadness while tackling the loss of bass player Isidore Grisoli’s mother, who passed away while the band drove home from playing FEST16 in Gainesville on the single, “Get Home.”
High has toured most of the United States and into Canada — including a huge west coast tour with PEARS that included a slot in San Diego’s La Escalera Fest, and shared the stage with many of their musical heroes. High is on the verge of releasing their 3rd full-length album and has a slew of EPs available — some self-released, but they are also members of the Ashtray Monument and Strange Daisy families.
Vocals, Guitar / CRAIG OUBRE
Vocals, Bass / ISIDORE GRISOLI
Vocals, Drums / JOSHUA WHITE
